A Curse and a Gift
by pacphys
Summary: After two of the turtles spent a month in Bishop's slimy hands they find that what they were left with was not only a curse. Rated for a comment in a later chapter.
1. Story Time

**Disclaimer:** The turtles belong to people who are not me. I mean no harm, and I'm not paid for this, please don't sue.

**A/N:** Oh dear, look at all the unintroduced OC names in this chapter! Ok, there's just two of them (Gale and Bella), but please bear with me. Who they are isn't exactly important yet, but in time these individuals whose names you don't recognize will be introduced, I promise! This story is complete on my harddrive, and just needs some final editing before being posted. I must be insane to start this now, but Reinbeauchaser requested it, and really it has been sitting long enough.

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_**A Curse and a Gift  
**_

**Chapter 1 – Story Time  
**

"Hey girl," Mikey greeted the child who had entered the kitchen wearing a frown. He picked her up and tossed her in the air. She giggled as she flew and Mike caught her easily. "How's my little Kitty Kat?" He returned the little girl to the floor.

Catherine, all of five years old, sighed. "Hi, Uncle Mikey." She said sadly, her gloomy demeanor returning.

"Hi, Uncle Mikey." Mike repeated in an exaggeratedly depressed manner. "Come on, baby, it can't be all THAT horrible." He picked her up again, took a chair at the table and placed her on his knee. "Alright, My Little Kitty Kat, I have multiple degrees in cheering people up, so come on now. Tell Dr. Mikey what's wrong."

"I wish I was your little Kitty Kat." The child commented coldly.

Mike hadn't expected that, and he tried to hide his surprise. He had really thought things were pretty good between the kids and their dad, but maybe he was wrong. "Kat, it doesn't matter who shares more genes with you, you are still My Little Kitty Kat. What's wrong?"

"Uncle Mikey, why does Daddy hate me?"

If her last statement had thrown Mike for a loop, it was nothing compared to this one. "Whoa! I think your daddy would be a little surprised to find out that he hates you, baby girl. Whatever made you think that?"

Catherine shrugged. "He hates all of us, except Bella sometimes. He never plays with us like you and Uncle Raph do, even Uncle Leo plays with us sometimes. He reads to us sometimes, but that's it."

"You feel like he's pushing you away?" Mikey asked.

The little turtle nodded. "He doesn't love us. Why does he hate us, Uncle Mikey. Did we do something wrong?"

"No, Catherine, you didn't do anything wrong, and none of your brothers nor your sister did anything wrong. Someone else did, a long time ago. Would you like to hear a story?"

Catherine brightened and nodded.

"I warn you, Kitty Kat, most of it is not a happy story."

The small girl on Mike's lap looked apprehensive.

"But I promise that it does have a happy ending. You, your sister and your brothers are that happy ending. Kitty Kat, your daddy loves you more than you can possibly know, even if it doesn't always seem that way. Trust me on this one." Mike was going to have to have a little chat with his brother about this when he was done with Catherine.

Catherine did not look particularly convinced, but she sat quietly for Mikey's story.

"Alright, it all started just about 6 years ago now, on a dark and stormy night."

"Uncle Mikey!" Kat complained. He always had such cheesy beginnings when he told stories.

"No, really! It was! A thunderstorm rolled in while your daddy and I were out at the junk yard."

"Daddy likes the junk yard." Catherine said with a groan, she didn't like the idea that everything they brought into their home was 'junk'.

"Yes, he does. But what you have to understand, Kat, is that he doesn't see it as junk. He sees what it could be, not what it currently is. You'll learn to see it too."

"Ok. Storm, junk, what happened next?" She bounced a little in her uncle's lap.

"Right. Well, we hadn't brought the Battle Shell with us that day so we were hopping rooftops to get home."

"Will I ever get to hop rooftops with you?" Kat piped up.

"How am I ever going to finish this story if you keep interrupting?" Mike asked. "Someday, Kitty Kat, you will be a master roof hopper, just like us. Maybe even better."

Catherine grinned, she was good at hopping around the lair. Uncle Leo had told her so, and when Uncle Leo said something was good, you could be sure that it was good.

"Anyway," Mikey continued, "we were hopping rooftops and ran into more trouble than we could handle on our own. Everything had been quiet for a long time, and we thought it was safe to go out in pairs. We were wrong that night. Some very bad guys found us and captured your daddy and me. We fought back, but there were too many of them and they had taken us by surprise."

Catherine knew that it was an extremely rare occasion if someone took Uncle Mikey by surprise, and that someone taking Uncle Leo or Daddy by surprise was unheard of. Even Master Splinter couldn't sneak up on them. But they couldn't sneak up on Master Splinter either, so Kat figured it was fair.

"They took us and put us in a cell about the size of the back of the Battle Shell. The room was..." Mikey trailed off briefly before abaondoning the statement all together and continuing around it. Even now he had trouble talking about it. "Remember when I said you didn't do anything wrong?"

Kat nodded.

"Well, the man who did do something wrong was named Bishop. He worked for the government in a very hush-hush manner. If you were to ask, any official would deny Bishop's affiliation with their agency. He did things to your daddy that were unforgivable."

"Bishop is a bad guy?"

"Bishop is most definitely a bad guy." Mike agreed. "What he did is part of the reason your daddy can't play with you kiddos the way the rest of us do."

"He used to play with us like you do." Kat objected.

"True, but you're getting big and you like to play together. One or two of you he can handle, but Bishop hurt your daddy very badly and he did it on purpose. Your daddy would love to be able to play with you guys, but because of what Bishop did to him it hurts."

"He spars with you and the others in the dojo." Catherine objected. "He knocked down Uncle Leo yesterday!" She said proudly, it wasn't very often that she got to see that.

"Yes, yes he did, but sparring hurts him too. Your daddy couldn't move for a long time afterward. He continues to train because he knows that one day he may have to protect you."

Catherine looked down. "Bishop broke Daddy, like Gale broke the lamp last week?"

"In a manner of speaking." Michelangelo agreed, laughing inwardly at the analogy the little girl used. "I was left in the cell, but every day two men came in and took your daddy to Bishop's lab. Some days were worse than others, but none of them were good."

"Is that why Daddy's not as strong as you or Uncle Raph and Uncle Leo?"

"Kitty Kat, your daddy is the strongest individual that I have ever met."

"But..."

"No, wait a minute." Mikey scolded lightly. "Sure, he's not as physically strong as the rest of us are, but that is not all there is to strength. There is other kinds of strength, many of which your daddy has in spades."

"What strengths?" She wasn't sure what 'in spades' meant, but she got the impression.

"Your daddy overcame something that, by all rights, should have finished him. He had no right recovering from it, but he did. He didn't stop. I don't think he knows how to. Donnie is a rare individual. You are lucky to have someone as special as he is for a dad."

Catherine looked at the floor for a long moment, now regretting her earlier statement. "What happened with Bishop, Uncle Mikey?"

"Are you sure, Kitty Kat? It's not a pleasant story."

The child nodded.


	2. Dark Beginnings

**A/N: **Here, I will be using italics to show a flashback. Not all of the flashbacks will be from Michelangelo's POV though he is the one telling the story. I think you'll all figure it out.

Special Thanks to all who left wonderful reviews that I love very, very much. I replied through the new reply to review feature, (very cool, now if only it were public, which it should be as the reviews themselves are) and have also posted the responses at the Stealthy Stories forum. If you want the link it's on my bio page!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Ninja Turtles or any associated characters, places, things. I make no money or receive any other means of financial gain from this, I mean no harm, please don't sue.

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"What happened with Bishop, Uncle Mikey?" 

"Are you sure, Kitty Kat? It's not a pleasant story."

The child nodded and Mike started the story.

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Dark Beginnings**

"_Leo? Raph? Is that you?" Mike called out in quiet disbelief._

"_Shh..." Leo scolded. "Yeah, we're here. Come on, let's get you two out of there. Raphael?"_

_Raph said nothing as he expertly moved forward and picked the lock on the cell door, freeing the two turtles trapped inside. He noticed that Donatello didn't move from his spot in the corner, or even acknowledge their presence. "Mikey? Is he ok?" Raphael asked gently._

_Mike seemed startled, as though just remembering Raph was there. "They... they were more brutal to him." Mikey replied quietly. Though he knew just how tenuous Donnie's hold on reality actually was, he didn't say anything about it to their rescuers. _

_Don was silent as Raphael helped him to stand. Raph was surprised and concerned at just how easy it was to lift his brother. He knew he wasn't getting any help from Donnie._

"_We can't leave them here." Mikey said to anyone who cared to listen. _

"_Why not?" Don moaned, hearing and responding to the familiar voice and reference to 'them'. "I can't..." He drifted off, not only in his speech, but seemed to wander off into his own little world as well. _

"_Who?" Leonardo interjected._

"_They're innocents, Donnie." Mike reasoned, either not hearing or ignoring Leo's question. His voice, forcibly pulling his brother back for the moment, but he could see Donnie slipping and hoped against hope that his brother could hold it together long enough for them to escape. It had been an amazingly good day for him so far, but Mikey wasn't sure how long that would last. "It would be one thing for them to go to a good home, but this is Bishop we're talking about."_

_Leo and Raph were completely confused by the conversation they were hearing. "What are you going on about?" Raph asked. _

"_Would you wish staying with Bishop on anyone?" Mikey demanded of the brother he was locked in conversation with._

_In response, Don shook his head sadly, but still raised objections to the idea. "I can't..."_

"_You don't have to, at least not yet. Ok? Just help us find them." Mikey begged, speaking the words carefully as though he were talking to a young child. _

_Slowly, Don nodded, and he tentatively took as much of his own weight from Raph as he could manage. All in all, it wasn't very much at all._

"_Mikey, who are we looking for?"_

"_Later, Leo." Mike responded shortly. He knew that if they kept talking about this, that Don would shut down, and they'd never find them. Leo looked like he was going to complain, so Mikey felt it necessary to prevent further conversation on the subject. "We need his help, and if you don't drop it now, we'll lose his..." Mike had to search for an appropriate word. "cooperation." He said with a subtle gesture toward Don. _

_Leo didn't like it, but he let it go. Whomever they were looking for was obviously important to Mikey. Silently, the four made it though the corridor. Leo was getting a little nervous, they'd been here too long and were going to get caught. That was something he couldn't allow to happen. He couldn't help but notice that both of the brothers who had spent the last month here had lost a lot of weight. _

"_Are we almost there?" Leo asked Mikey. He was getting nervous about how long they had been inside the complex. The longer they were inside, the more likely it was that Bishop would capture them all. It didn't help that they were moving slowly as Don was the only one who knew where they were going, and he was hardly in any condition to be moving at all._

_The orange-masked turtle started again, but once he figured out what had been asked he could only shrug. "They got some sort of sick pleasure out of torturing Donnie." He whispered so that only Leo could hear. "For whatever reason, they never did anything to me. Just left me in the little cell. He'd come back really battered, and..." Mike trailed off, unwilling or unable to continue._

_Leo didn't like what he was hearing, but he understood Mike's hesitance to tell the story. He sighed and a moment later saw Don drop his head by a door. _

_Donnie spoke in a flat and oddly detached tone one that would become all too familiar to his brothers in the days to come. "One guard, two scientists." _

_Raph felt Don shudder and was far from alone when he wondered, not for the first time, what it was that Bishop had done to Donatello on the other side of that door. _

"_I'll go." Mikey offered after a moment. _

"_Not alone, you won't!" Leo insisted. "I don't care if you weren't beaten, you're still not up to full strength after spending a month in Bishop's clutches!"_

_Mikey didn't offer any resistance, instead he nodded absently. He opened the door and Leo led the way through, quickly disposing of the guard. Michelangelo got one of the scientists and headed to the back of the room while Leo took care of the other one then methodically destroyed everything he could find. When Mike came back, he was carrying a large box. _

"_Mikey, what's..."_

"_Not now." Again, the tone was distracted, like part of Mikey was somewhere else._

_Leo was getting frustrated with all the secrecy, but he nodded and re-entered the hallway. Reunited with the pair in the hall, the four brothers made their way out of the building as quickly and quietly as they could. Just as they cleared the doors they heard the alarms sound. _

"_Come on, we have to move." Leo ordered and hurried his family along. Mikey was being very careful with the box he carried. Though Leo had offered to take the box, Mikey had refused the assistance and Leo felt it better not to push him. Glancing at his other two brothers, Leo noticed that Raph had given up helping Don and was now outright carrying him. Donnie either didn't mind or didn't notice, but Leo wasn't sure which. They slipped underground at the first opportunity and picked up the Sewer Slider for the ride to the lair. Leo drove slowly at Mikey's insistence, despite the fact that he would not feel safe until they were back inside the lair. _

_Arriving home for the first time in a month, Mikey found an electric blanket that he used to quickly cover the box he had brought back from Bishop's. Don's weak struggling indicated his refusal to be a part of that and, with Raph's help, he made his way to his room. _

"_Mikey, what's going on!" Leo demanded as soon as Raph and Don were out of earshot. _

_The orange-masked turtle just sighed. "Leo..."_

"_I know, you can't tell me. Just what's in the box?"_

_Mikey sighed. "I guess I should tell you that much." He admitted. "They're... You're going to be an uncle." Mike finally said softly. _

"_Mikey? But you said...? You're gonna be...?"_

"_An uncle too. They're Donnie's."_

"_He didn't seem too happy about it." Raph observed as he came back into the room having overheard the tail end of the conversation. _

_Shaking his head, Mikey agreed. "He's not. Considering what those bastards did to him to get these little guys, I can't entirely say that I blame him. He doesn't want them." _

_Raphael didn't like the tone that Mikey's voice had adopted. It didn't sound like Mikey. The voice was haunted, distant, nothing like the Michelangelo that he knew. _

"_Guys, it's been a really long day." Mike added. His grip on what was real was better than Donnie's was, but he needed some time to himself to sort things out. _

"_Oh, right." Leo agreed. "You should get some sleep too."_

"_Uh, Mikey?" Raph asked as the orange-masked turtle started to leave. "What do we do with them?" He indicated the box that Mike had covered with the blanket. _

_Michelangelo turned away before he spoke again. "Just keep them warm, I guess. Don might know, but he's not going to want to help, even if he can." Mike said with a shrug.

* * *

_

"You mean Daddy didn't want us!" Catherine cried in alarm. With that realization, tears filled her eyes.

"At first? No." Mike answered honestly. "As eggs you guys were a constant reminder of the worst month of your dad's life. You and your siblings are a result of the very worst of Bishop's tortures. For a long time that was all he could see, but he got over it. I told you that your daddy sees things for what they can be rather than what they are?" Mike reminded the child.

She nodded sadly. Mikey smiled gently as he wiped a tear off her cheek. Maybe this had been a mistake, but he felt that even at the tender age of five years she had the right to know the story of her origin. Don would probably kill him for it later, but it was too late to go back now.

"Well, he had a little trouble at first, but shortly after you guys hatched you were no longer the eggs that represented those awful days. You were his kids. To him, you became more than the circumstances behind your origin and he began to see what you can be. Keep that in mind as I continue the story, ok Kitty Kat?"

Her response was short and sad.

"Okay."


	3. That Which Doesn't Kill You

**A/N:** I got some reviews that tell me that there is some considerable confusion out there. I hope that this chapter clears up some of it, and if not, there is some additional words on the subject in an author's note at the end of this chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the turtles. I don't make any money from this. I mean no harm. Please don't sue.

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**Chapter 3 – That Which Doesn't Kill You...**

"_Why won't you help us?" Leo demanded of his purple-masked brother. "We don't know what to do with them!"_

"_Leo, leave me alone." Don begged. He clapped his hands over his ears, trying to drown out his brother's insistent words. _

"_You're the only one who knows how to take care of them!"_

"_Leo, stop. I- I can't."_

_But Leo didn't stop, he persisted. "I understand that Bishop did some horrid things to you, but how can you just sit idly by while your children, your own flesh and blood, die?"_

_Don was shaking. He'd been doing that a lot lately, and he couldn't stop. "I don't know any more than you do! Don't make me do this. Please, Leo, don't make me." He begged. "I can't."_

"_Donnie, this is getting ridiculous, it's been three months. You have to start taking care of those eggs just like the rest of us have been. You have to take some responsibility for them." Leo carefully watched his shaking brother for a moment. Don sat on his bed hugging his knees to his chest. Noticing this, Leo sighed and softened his tone. "And, more importantly, you have to start taking care of yourself" While Mike had gained back the weight he had lost while in Bishop's clutches and then some, Donnie had not. If anything, he'd lost more. _

"_Let's get one thing straight, Leo." Don's voice turned cold. "I didn't ask for this and I sure as shell didn't ask you to go find them."_

_"Donnie!" Leo breathed in surprise, unable to believe what he was hearing and the sheer ice with which Don said the words. _

_When Don spoke again his voice was quiet, but it sounded hollow, almost as though it belonged to a completely different person than the one who had spoken moments ago. "You don't understand. You can't. No one can." _

"_Because you won't talk to me. How can I even begin to understand, when you absolutely refuse to let any of us in? Let us help you, Donnie. Talk to me."_

_Don sighed. After a long moment he nodded and began to speak again. The icy tone was gone, but it had been replaced by the detached one that Donnie had adopted recently. The one that sounded like he was a million miles away. Leo and everyone else in the lair hated the new tone, but nothing they tried could snap Donatello out of it. "When I see those-" he cut himself off and paused a moment, pushing images away and gathering his thoughts before continuing his sentence where he left it. "I'm back in that lab, Leo. But they're always here. I can't get away from them, and everyone is insisting that I help." He rocked back and forth a little on the bed before continuing. "I know that I should. I know that I shouldn't blame what happened to me on them. I know that they didn't do anything, that they're innocent. Really, I know I should help... but I can't, Leo. I just can't bring myself to do it. I've tried, honest I have, and I can't." Don was shaking his head. "I want to help, Leo, but I can't. I can't."_

_Leo sat a listened quietly to his brother's words, but didn't feel that his biggest question had been answered. "What did they do to you in there?"_

_For a long time the two turtles sat in silence, but Leo could wait. He had always been pretty tolerant of his brothers, and the past few months had added greatly to his ability to be patient with them, particularly where Donatello was concerned. Leonardo just sat there and waited, knowing that when Don had figured out his own mind that he'd share the discovery._

"_They... You already know the worst of it. Part of the proof is sitting in the other room. Beyond that, I... I don't really remember much of it." _

"_Where did they get the eggs-." Leo was cut off by his brother._

"_I don't know, and I don't want to know!" Don shouted, his anger returning as quickly as it had dissipated. "Get out!" _

_Though Leo was startled by the sudden shift in Don's temper, he couldn't say that it was entirely unexpected. The mood swings were startling in their suddenness and occasionally frightening in their ferocity, but Leo knew that, despite how hard they were to witness, they were a step forward from Don's previous habit of retreating into himself. Even as he reacted to the outburst, Leo noticed that his brother was shaking again. "Donnie." Worry laced the short name._

"_GET OUT!" The purple-masked turtle screamed a second time._

"_Ok, ok, I'm going." Leo backed out the door and left the shaking turtle in solitude. As he closed the door he could see Donnie curling up on the bed with his back to the room. When Leonardo turned around, another brother was standing in his path, and looked just as irate as the one he had just left alone. _

"_I told you not to do that." Mike hissed as Leo stepped out of the room. "I told you not to distress him, and what do you go and do?"_

"_Mikey," Leo started. The instant Don had shouted the first time, he'd known this moment was coming. Ever since their return to the lair, Michelangelo had been extremely protective of Don. So much so, that Leo occasionally wondered if it was a help or a hindrance._

"_Hasn't he been through enough! Just leave him alone, Leo! He'll talk when he's ready, and he's not ready yet. You have no idea what he went through."_

"_Because he won't tell anyone!" Leo insisted. "And you're no help either!"_

_Mikey looked at the floor. "He won't tell you partially because the pain is still too fresh, and partially because he doesn't know. Give him some time. He wants to tell you, but to relive it now..." Mike trailed off. _

"_Maybe I'm thinking too far in the future here, but those eggs aren't going to be eggs forever."_

_Michelangelo couldn't help but sigh. "I know, Leo. He knows too. He... he would talk in his sleep while we were captive." Mike admitted. "Every night he relived what happened to him during the day. Leo, you wouldn't believe some of the things they did. He might be better off not remembering most of it." Part of his statement to Leo had been a lie, but the main points were truthful. If Mikey had anything to say about it, the whole truth would never be revealed.

* * *

_

"Daddy talks in his sleep?" The small girl asked.

"Not usually, only when he is stressed to his limits." Mike played with the maroon bandanna the little turtle wore over her head.

* * *

_All Leo could do was watch and listen to Mikey's stories. _

"_It's really not my place to say anything." Mike looked down, but kept talking. "I guess, three months is when I can step in though. Have you seen the scars on his sides?" he asked. _

_Leo nodded. He noted the haunted tone that came into his brother's voice._

"_Those are from surgeries. No anesthesia. I could hear him scream some of those days, a lot of those days."

* * *

_

"What's anes... anet..."

"Anesthesia is used to dull pain. Doctors give you a stuff so you can't feel anything and sometimes put you to sleep while they perform surgery. Bishop and his cronies just cut your daddy open." He could see tears forming in the little girl's eyes again. "Hey, if this is too much, I can stop."

"NO! I want to know." The little girl cried. "Please keep telling the story, Uncle Mikey."

Mike nodded and continued. He pulled his young niece a little closer, offering comfort as he told a story that was anything but comfortable.

* * *

"_I don't mean to sound callous, Mikey, but why didn't they do anything to you?"_

_Michelangelo shrugged, and both turtles were surprised when Donnie yanked open the door to his room. _

"_Because..." The purple-masked turtle said flatly in an odd monotone. "Mikey was a back-up just in case Bishop screwed up with me. In the meantime, he was a control specimen." Without another word directed at the pair in the hall, Don returned to his room and shut the door. As he did so Leo heard him muttering. "Every good experiment has a control group." If it weren't for the tone of voice, the statement would have been reminiscent of the Donatello of old. _

_Leonardo and Michelangelo moved to the main room of the lair, chagrined that their brother had heard every word of their previous conversation. The eggs were sitting in a corner where they could be kept safe, and the pair stood in front of the box. A few weeks ago Leo had found a heat lamp that he had talked Don into fixing. That had taken a lot of convincing and more than a little conniving, but Leo had hoped that the lamp would be a start for Don. Unfortunately, the purple turtle had only further distanced himself from not only the eggs, but the rest of his family as well. The only good that Leo could see come out of the lamp, besides having the device working again, was that Donnie had rediscovered his inventions and he was doing that instead of lying in bed all day. He had to admit that it was a step forward, but it wasn't the one he had been hoping for. Leo gazed at the leathery eggs that lay in the box and knew that his family's life would never be the same again. _

"_I'm worried, Mikey." Leo admitted as he stared at the eggs. "I don't think Don's going to be able to bond with them. Heck, he hasn't made any attempt to spend time with us."_

_Mikey just shook his head. "His machines are predictable, they can't hurt him if he doesn't want them to, Leo." He said quietly with tone and wisdom he had rarely shown before his capture. "People are not predictable. He can't control other people. He spent so much time without having any control of his surroundings or even himself... He hasn't readjusted well." Mikey reached down and gently stroked one of the eggs before backing away from the harsh light of the heat lamp that washed over them. _

"_So how do we get him to be social again?" Leo asked quietly. _

_From his spot in the darkest shadow he could find, Mikey just shrugged. He was forever turning off lights, and Leo and Raph were still getting used to the quirk that Mikey had adopted. _

"_Perhaps, if the four of you do something together." Splinter suggested from the other end of the room. "Something in a non-threatening situation. A weekly game night?"_

"_Something small?" Leo asked. "To draw him out of his shell, so to speak?"_

"_Exactly, my son." Splinter smiled. _

"_What about the eggs?" Mikey asked. _

"_Make sure that you have the game in this room. Have them around, but not prominently placed."_

"_You up for Cranium tonight, Mikey?" Leo asked with a grin. _

"_Dude, that is only like, the best game EVER! I'm ALWAYS up for Cranium!" Mike exclaimed as he took a step out of the shadow._

_Leo had to smile at the way Mikey spoke. He hadn't heard much of the old Mikey enthusiasm in a long time. Raphael was working on the Shell Cycle, and Leo went to talk to him. "Hey Raph, you up for Cranium tonight?" When Leo caught a look on Raph's face that suggested that the turtle might say no, he gave his reasons hoping to persuade his red-masked brother._

"_Donnie really has to snap out of it!" Raph responded. _

"_I wish it were that simple, Raph. I really do."_

"_He's going to have some seriously messed up kids if he doesn't stop acting like this."_

_Leonardo sighed. "That's why we're doing this. If we can get him to bond with us again, then maybe the kids have a chance with him. Right now, I don't think they would."_

"_How long does a mutant turtle stay in its egg anyway?" Raphael asked as he put away the socket wrench he'd been using. _

"_I don't know." Leo admitted. "But I doubt that it will be too much longer."

* * *

_

"But you said Daddy bounced back from bad stuff!" Catherine cried.

"Have you ever known him to behave the way I've described?" Mike asked with a single raised eyeridge.

"No." The little turtle in the maroon bandanna replied.

"Kitty Kat, the odds were stacked so far against him when he came home, that it's a miracle he ever recovered. He just needed some time to work through it, that's all."

* * *

**A/N: ** Oo-oo-ookay. I seem to have caused some considerable confusion, though for the life of me I can't figure out why the existence of eggs automatically leads to the conclusion that Bishop GOT said eggs from Don. Just to clear things up... he didn't. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, Don doesn't know where the eggs came from. I am still my father's daughter despite the fact that he didn't carry me around inside himself for nine months. This is the same sort of thing. They are still Don's children despite the fact that he didn't provide the eggs. 


	4. Makes you Stronger

**Chapter 4 – Makes You Stronger.**

"_Hey Donnie!" Mikey called as brightly as he could upon bounding into his brother's room. "Dinnertime!" _

"_Not hungry." Don muttered distantly as he picked up a circuit board from his desk and carefully placed it into the remote he had been working on. _

"_You're never hungry. You're going to make yourself sick, bro. Well anyway, tonight you don't get a choice." Mikey informed. "Because tonight is family night! Pizza and Cranium. Just you, me, Leo and Raph. And Splinter will be at dinner too, but the game will just be the four of us. Come on, what do you say? We can't play with three."_

"_Mikey... I don't..."_

"_You can't hide in here forever. Please come back to us, Donnie." Mike begged. _

_Donatello sighed. "It's just dinner and a game, right?"_

_Mikey nodded, Don was obviously psyching himself up to do what was asked of him. _

"_I can do that, right? I mean it's just dinner and a game."_

"_You can totally do it, Donnie. Come on, food's getting cold."_

_Don nodded and stood. He followed Mikey until they came to the main room. Don froze on the last step and tried to back up, but his brother stopped him. Mikey followed the other turtle's gaze to the box that sat in the far corner. _

"_Come on, bro. You have to do it sometime. I'm right here with you, we're just going to the kitchen. We're home now." _

"_But those things..."_

"_They." Mikey corrected quietly. "They're not going to hurt you, Donnie. They were trapped there, just like you. Come on, let's go to the kitchen." Gently pulling Don's arm, Mikey led the reluctant turtle to the table._

"_Yo, Donnie!" Raphael greeted. "He tossed a couple slices of pizza in the air, caught_ _them on a plate and handed it to Don. "Good to see you out of your room for something other than training!" _

_Don had started joining them in the dojo a couple weeks previous. He got there early to warm up a little on his own and performed the warm-up katas with his brothers, but that was almost more than his still recovering body could handle most days and Splinter forbade him from continuing the physical practice beyond the warm-ups. Don was sent to meditate for the rest of the time. Sometimes he did, but usually he just went back to his room._

"_Uh huh," Don replied half-heartedly, in that same detached tone. Raph couldn't help but cringe whenever he heard Donnie speak like that. _

_They ate mostly in silence. A silence that was occasionally broken by Mikey's and Raph's attempts at humor, but the jokes usually fell flat and the silence returned. Leo noted that, in sharp contrast to the almost whole pie Mikey had put away, Donnie didn't eat more than a couple bites of the pizza Raph had given him, and that most of the toppings had been picked off. He made a mental note to make sure that there was something around that would be easier on Donnie's stomach than the heavy pizza next time around._ Leo_ sighed, knowing that even now, three months after returning home, his brother still had trouble eating certain things, a lot of certain things. He shook his head and put a vitamin pill in Don's hand. A pill that Leo usually wound up almost literally forcing down his brother's throat, much to Mikey's dismay. If Don wasn't going to eat, he was darn well going to take the vitamins. In fact, given the repeated administration of unwanted vitamins and medication, it was a minor miracle that Donnie allowed Leo near him at all. Leo had quickly discovered that his brother was much more amenable to a chewable pill than something he had to swallow, and given what he'd been through, Leo couldn't quite blame him. The blue-masked turtle gave his brother a small smile when Don took the pill on his own and chased it with some orange juice. _

_After the awkward meal, they went into the main room for the game. Leo was slightly worried that the game would bomb the way dinner had, and it showed in his demeanor. Mike teamed up with Don and Leo paired with Raphael. _

_It was a little slow at first, but the game did start warming up. Every once in a while Leo would catch Donnie's worried glance to the corner of the room, but he had also seen Don smile. It hadn't been much, but it had been there when Raph had to draw a cow with his eyes closed and two of the cow's legs had ended up inside it's body, and its head was underneath it. Needless to say, Leo didn't get the answer. It was well known among the brothers that Raph's drawing skills left something to be desired, whether he had his eyes closed or not._

_Donatello was the go to turtle for data head or word worm cards, but he was positively hopeless when it came to the singing cards. While Michelangelo usually knew the song, 7 times out of 10 Don didn't. He sighed as Mikey started humming yet another song that he didn't know. _

"_Come on, Donnie! You've gotta be kidding me! You know this one!" _

"_I don't know it, Mikey." Don insisted. _

"_It's 'We Are the Champions', how can you NOT know that song!" Raph asked as the timer ran out. _

_Don just shrugged and looked away. Again his eyes fell on that box in the corner. _

_Leo could feel his brother's apprehension level spike and quickly pulled attention back to the game. "Raph, who's turn is it to act?"_

"_Yours." Raphael answered without thinking. _

_Leo eagerly took the card from Mikey, but his brother's grin didn't give him much hope for what he had to do. _Barney? Like the purple dinosaur? Terrific. _ Leo couldn't do a good imitation of that disturbing thing to save his life, and he wouldn't particularly want to be able to. The timer was about half gone when Don figured out who Leo was trying to imitate. In that moment, Leo felt like a real idiot. He never should have accepted the card. He stopped and just let Raph guess for the rest of the time, but the damage had been done. _

"_Maybe we should have gone through those cards." Raph said shortly after Don left.

* * *

_

There were parts of the story from here that even Mike deemed unfit for little girls' ears and while he remembered the conversations he left out insignificant pieces that he didn't feel like explaining to a five year old.

* * *

"_Be glad it was just Barney and not the sperm card." Mikey replied, suddenly recalling the time that he'd had to do that particular charade when Master Splinter had been on his team. There was just something about acting out sperm for your father and sensei that was just a little wrong, whether you were the same species or not._

"_Mikey, you and I are going through those cards tomorrow." Leo said. "I don't want this to happen again."_

"_Leo, he has to deal with it sometime." Raph insisted. "As much as he might wish it, those eggs aren't going anywhere."_

"_I know, but we're going to lose him if we're not careful."_

"_I hate to say this, Leo, but it's quite possible that we've already lost him. I don't think he knows who he is anymore. Maybe if we had intervened sooner..."_

"_Raphael!" Splinter scolded. "I do not want to hear talk like that again!" He rapped the red-masked turtle on the shoulder with his walking stick. "It is not too late until you believe it is too late. You have to believe in him." Once Raphael had been dealt with, Splinter left to find Donatello. "Leave that game right where it is. I will be back shortly."_

"_May I come in, my son?" Splinter asked as he knocked on Donatello's door._

_Donatello didn't respond either way so Splinter took that as an invitation. "Why did you leave the game?" He asked gently as he came in and sat down on the bed beside the dangerously underweight turtle. _

_Sitting cross legged on the bed and fiddling with the remote he had been working on earlier, Don just shrugged. _

"_You cannot hide from your family forever." Splinter said. "I know that while in Bishop's custody you were subjected to abominable treatment and that what he did to you is unforgivable, but now you must find a way back to us, Donatello, a way back to yourself."_

"_I'm trying, really I am." Donnie said quietly._

_Splinter nodded in understanding and put an arm around Donatello's shoulders. "I realize that playing a game with your brothers was a big step for you, but now I think you should see it through. Go back out there, and finish that game."_

_Don looked at Master Splinter. "I don't... I don't know if I can." He could feel himself start shaking again._

"_And you will never know until you try." Splinter reassured the turtle. He pulled the confused young man into a gentle hug that wasn't immediately returned. _

_After a long moment Don dropped his head in defeat and accepted his father's embrace. He then nodded, stood and went back to the main room where his_ _brothers were waiting. _

_When the game ended a short time later, Michelangelo even managed to talk Don into watching a movie with him. Mike pulled out The Dish. While he didn't find the movie all that wonderful, he couldn't think of anything in it that would disturb his brother. It was the only one they had that Mikey couldn't come up with anything upsetting. He wasn't even sure where they had gotten the movie from, though, considering what it was about, he had a feeling that Don had something to do with it's presence in the lair._

_Mike couldn't help but smile when Donnie laughed slightly at Rudy's interrogation of a sheep. By the end of the movie, the purple-masked turtle had fallen asleep on his brother's shoulder.

* * *

_

Catherine giggled at the sheep comment. She had seen the movie and enjoyed that little moment too. Mike was glad that he could give her a little bit of a laugh in the story he was telling her. It was a time in his life that he didn't particularly want to remember.

* * *

**A/N:** For those of you who are curious about that sperm card, it is one of the charade cards. When I first came across it my teammate was my dad. To make matters worse I had to do a charade for the word 'nipple' a few turns later. My mom and sister found it hilarious. Me? Not so amused, really. 


	5. Changes

**Chapter 5 - Changes**

"That was the start of your daddy's return to us." Mikey told the little turtle on his lap. "It was still slow going for a long time, but that game and movie were truly a good start."

"What happened next, Uncle Mikey?" Catherine shouted, bouncing in his lap, desperate for more of the story.

"Well, as long as he could put that month out of his mind your daddy started to come back to himself. He slowly began spending time with us again, and he smiled more."

"What about us, Uncle Mikey?"

Michelangelo sighed. "Those 6 eggs still brought that month back to him faster than anything else could."

"Six?" She counted on her fingers and held up all of them. "This many? But-"

"Six." Mikey repeated with a nod. "Whenever you were brought up or he remembered your presence in the main room, he'd retreat mentally and disappear again. A couple days later he would recover and work his way back out into the lair. But that all changed."

"When?"

"I'm getting there, Kitty Kat."

* * *

_It had been a little over six months since the purple and orange masked turtles had been returned to the lair, and Raphael, Leonardo and Michelangelo had taken to watching over the eggs at all times. Leo was watching them around 2:00 in the afternoon when the first one started moving. He called out for his family and Raph, Mike and Splinter were there almost instantly. The only absent individual was the one who should most be present. Leo jumped up and stormed into his brother's room._

"_Donatello, you get up this instant! You are going to be there when your babies hatch whether you like it or not!" He physically pulled Don to his feet despite the purple-masked turtle's protests. "If you don't do this now, Donnie, you'll regret it for the rest of your life." Leo promised. _

_With a sigh, Don stopped fighting against his brother's will and went to the main room. The others surrounded the box and watched the wiggling egg, but Don hung back. In another show of just who was the leader of the small group, Leo pulled Donnie so he was kneeling right by the box as well. It was easy for Leo to feel Don's apprehension at the situation, and he kept a hand on Donnie's shoulder in a silent show of support he was aware his brother needed. Leo knew that, in the long run, it was best that Donatello be present for this, but he could also see that Don was dangerously close to falling off a very high cliff. _

_Finally, the egg ripped open. It was just a line down the side, but it was something. Leo, Raph and Mikey had done some research and knew that normal turtles could take days to get out of their eggs, but Leo didn't have a clue how things worked with mutant turtles. They weren't exactly the norm so what applied for other turtles in this situation could very well not apply to them. It was at that point that Donatello withdrew, disappearing into himself. Leonardo sighed, easily lifted his still horribly underweight brother and carried him back to his bedroom. Once Don had been safely tucked into bed, Leo opted to stay with him. Past experience had taught them that Donnie was more likely to come out of these little relapses quickly if a friendly presence was in the room. If anything happened downstairs, which he doubted for a while yet, he was sure that he'd hear about it.

* * *

_

_**Two days later**_

_Donatello had come out of his catatonia and the hatchling had nearly freed itself of the egg. In addition, a second egg had split open the day before. As the first hatchling was so close to clearing its egg, the whole family was gathered around the box again, including a more than reluctant Donatello. _

_Leo knew that Don was holding his breath and fighting not to run away. Mikey gently picked up the baby as it freed itself from the egg and showed it to Don who wanted to be just about anywhere but where he was. One of the things that Leo noted about the child was that its yolk sack was much smaller than he would have expected. That was something he chalked up to their mutation and prayed he was correct about._

"_It's a boy, Donnie." Mike said as he tried to hand the little guy to the new father, being very careful of the small yolk sack._

_Don backed away as far as Leo would allow and refused to take the baby from Mikey. His breathing was quick and shallow, and he was just this side of panicking._

"_Breathe, Donnie." Leo instructed carefully, hoping he wouldn't push his brother into another relapse. "Two deep breaths." He watched as Don did what he was told. While it had stopped Don from hyperventilating, Leo noticed that his brother was shaking again. _

_When the tiny turtle started to cry, Mikey pulled the baby close for a moment before offering the little boy to Don again. This time Leo shook his head. _

"_He's shaking too badly, Mike. He might drop him." _

_Mikey nodded and cuddled the baby for a moment. When the little boy stopped crying he carefully wrapped it in a small clean blanket and handed the child to Raphael. Master Splinter eventually received the baby, and Leo stood Don up and led him to the couch. _

"_You really should hold that baby." Leo said, kneeling down in front of his brother. "The longer you wait, the harder it will be." He knew that the conversation wasn't helping Don's nerves any, and that his brother's shaking was worse than ever. "And you need to name him."_

_Don shook his head violently. "L- Leo, I c- can't."_

"_Yes, you can. He's a baby, Don. He can't hurt you."_

"_Mikey, you're the one who made sure they got out of the lab. Why don't you name him?" Don tried._

_For a moment Mikey was shocked, but he recovered quickly. "Donnie, I would be honored, but I'm afraid I have to agree with Leo. You should name the first one."_

_Don sighed and thought for a long moment. During that time, Leo sat next to him on the couch and Master Splinter gently placed the baby in Leonardo's lap. _

"_Is he sleeping?" Don asked worriedly, even as he tried to scoot farther away. _

_Mikey grinned. "Wouldn't you be tired if you had just ripped your way out of that?" He asked with a hint of a laugh._

"_Yes, he's sleeping, Donnie." Leo assured his brother with a smile. _

_Don reached out slowly and ran a finger along where he knew the edge of the baby's carapace to be before_ q_uickly retracting his hand. "Ga-Galileo." He said finally. _

_Splinter couldn't help but smile at Donatello's play on the naming scheme he had started nearly eighteen years previous. A renaissance Italian to be sure, but not exactly an artist, at least not in the painting and sculpture sense. _

"_Do you want to hold him now?" Leo asked. _

_Don shook his head, but Leo placed Galileo in his lap all the same. "NOOO! No, Leo! Take it back, please?" Donnie begged. _

_Leo pulled the now crying baby back into his own lap, but scooted closer to Don on the couch. He waited for Galileo to stop crying again before he spoke. "Come on, Donnie. Galileo is not going to hurt you. I'm going to put him in your lap now, ok?" _

_When Don didn't object, the baby was moved back into his father's lap. Leo could tell that said father was just shy of panicking again, barely managing to keep his anxiety in check. After what seemed like an eternity, Donnie finally started to relax. He carefully ran his finger along the rim of the baby's carapace again before getting the nerve to actually pick the child up. A small movement from Galileo nearly startled Don into dropping the baby, but he held on and even pulled the tiny turtle closer. Though he still didn't quite believe what was happening, Donatello found himself absolutely fascinated by the little boy he cradled in his arms._

"_Donnie?" Raph asked._

"_Hmm?" Came Don's distracted response._

"_Raphael, Shh..." Splinter scolded gently. "Let him have a moment." _

"_But-?" Raph insisted in a soft voice. _

"_I told you to be quiet, Raphael." Splinter said a little more sharply. The same question had been on his mind as well, but it was quite probable that there was a reason, other than what Raphael was thinking.

* * *

_

"What was Uncle Raph talking about?" Catherine asked.

"I'll get there. For now, I want you to know that this was a major turning point for your daddy. You kids were able to do what we weren't. When you all started hatching, he could finally put the past behind him and see a future again."

"Huh?"

"You made him happy when nothing else could." Mike simplified for the girl.

* * *

_Galileo was sleeping on the couch, for the time being, and was watched by whoever was keeping an eye on the five remaining eggs. It was 4:30AM and Raphael was awake when the next one threatened to finally free itself. _

_When everyone had shown up in the main room again, Galileo noticed all the activity and began to fuss. Mikey picked up the baby and rocked him while they waited for the next small turtle to pull clear._

_Splinter was the first to reach down and pick up the child that had just freed itself from its egg. "It's a girl." He said, taking note of her plastron. Though the child was very young, and the external differences were small, Splinter had raised four mutant turtles and was well aware of what their plastrons looked like, this child's was different so it had to be a girl. He handed her to Donatello and sighed, noticing that the young father was still hanging back slightly. _

"_Do you want to name her, Mikey?" Don asked as he tentatively took the little girl. _

"_I don't know any good girl names, Donnie!" Mike moaned. "There aren't a whole lot of choices." _

_Don nodded, agreeing with the statement. There weren't a whole lot of prominent women during the renaissance. He frowned for a long moment as he tried to think of something that might be a good name for the little girl. _

"_What about Catherine?" Raphael suggested. _

"_What?" Leo asked, unsure of where his red-masked brother had come up with that name. _

"_After Catherine de Medici." Raph explained, ignoring the look he got from Leo that clearly wondered where he'd heard of Catherine de Medici._

_Don nodded in agreement as he handed the baby to Raphael. _

_By the time the little girl made her way into Michelangelo's arms, she had evidently had enough of the being passed around thing. _

"_YOW!" Mike cried out. "She bit me!"

* * *

_

"Uncle Raph named me?" Kat asked in disbelief.

"He sure did, Kitty Kat. Kind of fitting really." Mike told the little girl on his lap.

"What?"

"You, My Little Kitty Kat, are a lot like Raph was when he was a kid." Mikey informed the child as he played with the short tails of her maroon bandanna.

"I AM!" Catherine asked in horror.

"Do you have something against Raph?" Mikey asked with a laugh, though he knew that Raphael was secretly Kat's favorite uncle.

"No." Kat admitted sadly. "It's just..."

Mike laughed at the look on the little girl's face. "Hey, don't be like that kiddo." He chided. "Raph has some great qualities. He might get a little angry from time to time, but there's no one more more loyal than he is. And he's a kick ass ninja to boot!"

"KICK ASS!" Catherine repeated the new phrase gleefully as she bounced slightly on Mike's leg.

"Oh geez, your dad's gonna kill me." Mikey moaned.

"KICK ASS!"

"I told you, you're like Raph."


	6. Chances

** A/N:** Alright, I'm closing in on the end of this story: after this, two chapters remain. I leave on Tuesday and lose Internet access until January, and I hope to have this story complete by then. This chapter might be a little jumpy, and it's been bugging me, but this thing has been floating on my harddrive long enough.

**Disclaimer: **The Turtles and associated characters, places, things, etc. are the property of Mirage Studios, and I (sadly) am not affiliated with Mirage in any way shape or form. I make no money from this and I mean no harm. Please don't sue.

* * *

**Chapter 6 - Chances**

_While Raphael was concerned about the four eggs that hadn't hatched after the next few days, Donatello was not. Raph wondered if Don knew something he didn't, or if the purple-masked turtle was simply refusing to acknowledge the existence of the remaining four eggs. Not for the first time, Raph shrugged it off and continued to watch the eggs even as he wondered if the turtles inside would make it. The thing that Raphael found most odd over the next few days was that Don almost seemed concerned that two had hatched at the same time. On the other hand, Raphael could think of several reasons why Donnie might be concerned about suddenly having two children whose existence he'd been unable to accept a week ago.

* * *

_

_A good week and a half had passed since Catherine's hatching when the next eggs started wiggling. When the next tiny turtle finally crawled free a couple days after that, Don already had Galileo in his arms, and Leo was holding Catherine. Michelangelo tried to remember the last time he'd seen Donnie awake and alert without at least one of the two children in his arms. He didn't count the two days during the previous week that Donnie had spent in one of his little funks. Even so, the week had been the first time he'd truly seen his brother happy for more than a few seconds since they'd come home... or rather, since they'd been captured. Raphael picked up the new hatchling this time. "Boy." He reported. _

"_Mikey?" Don asked, looking to his brother. _

_The orange masked turtle smiled. "You sure, Donnie?" _

_Don nodded. "You're the one who made sure they got here. I would have let them stay-" He stopped, unable to continue the sentence he had started. After a moment he tried again, the slightly bitter and horribly detached tone of voice returning with a vengeance. So much so that Don's brothers were concerned that they were about to lose him again. "I wouldn't have brought them home, remember? You made sure that they got here, and I should thank you for that." He cuddled the little boy he held, his actions very much at odds with his tone of voice._

"_Alright." Mike grinned as Raphael passed the newly hatched turtle to him. "Tiziano." He said aloud. "Is that ok?"_

_Don didn't recognize the name right away, and Mike could evidently see that on his face. _

"_Well, I could call him Titian and name him after the same guy, but I'm not too fond of a rather obvious way to shorten that name. It might give him a complex"_

_Don, Raph and even Master Splinter seemed to get it, but Leo looked confused. _

"_First three letters?" Mike suggested. _

"_Ah." Leo got it. _

"_I like Tiziano." Don told Mike as he traded Galileo for the newest hatchling._

"_We've got another crawler, here." Mike said as he glanced back down at the box. Sure enough, another little turtle was doing its darndest to finally get completely out of its egg. Don reluctantly handed Tiziano off to Master Splinter, and the newest hatchling slowly made his way around the group. _

_Shortly after Tiziano pulled free, the next hatchling followed him. This time it was Mikey who lifted the baby out of the box. "Another boy." He said after a moment as he cuddled the newest hatchling. _

"_Well," Raphael asked, looking at Donnie. "what's his name?"_

"_I don't know." Don replied. "Leo, why don't you do it?"_

"_Me?"_

"_Why not?"_

"_Uh, ok." Leo hadn't even thought of a name and while he searched his memory for a good one Donnie handed him the little boy. Leo barely had time to register that he'd received the newest hatchling before Don picked up Tiziano. "What about Machiavelli?"_

"_Leo, that's cruel!" Michelangelo objected. "He's going to have to learn to spell that!"_

"_It worked for you!" Raphael laughed. _

"_True, Mr. I-can't-spell-yesterday." Mike retorted. Raphael stopped laughing and glared at his orange-masked brother. "I am the Spell-Meister!" Mikey crowed. _

_All four babies started crying at the sudden shout, and Mike earned himself four glares from the individuals holding them.

* * *

_

"That wasn't very nice of you, Uncle Mikey!" Catherine stated flatly. "Making us all cry like that!" She crossed her powerful arms over her little plastron in a mock pout.

"True, but I didn't know that would happen. I wasn't used to having four babies around the lair. No one was. Well, Master Splinter re-adjusted pretty quickly."

* * *

_**Three Days Later**_

_Leo found Don watching the remaining two eggs, odd in an of itself, with a strange look on his face. Though it didn't make a whole lot of sense to Leo, Don had always seen the eggs and the children as separate and distinct entities; he loved the children, but was still afraid of the eggs. Leo was beginning to wonder if that had finally changed. This was also quite possibly the first time that Leo had seen Donnie without at least one of the little ones since Galileo had been forced into his lap. He also noted that his brother looked exhausted and had probably been there all night._

"_Hey Don, you ok?" Leo asked as he sat down beside his brother. _

"_I am. Yeah." _

_Something about the tone of Donnie's voice told Leo that he wasn't getting the whole story. "What's the matter?" He asked as he took a seat next to his obviously distressed brother. _

"_These two..." Don trailed off. _

_Leo sighed when he finally figured out what Don was trying to say. "You don't think those two are going to make it, do you?"_

"_I'm pretty sure at least... at least that one won't." He pointed to the smaller of the remaining two eggs. "and it's been..." He trailed off, unable to continue the sentence he had started. _

_Leo noticed the detachment in his brother's voice and he became a little concerned. "What makes you say that?" He asked, hoping to keep Donatello in the present._

"_One. Two. Three." Don replied cryptically and distantly with a shudder. A decidedly haunted tone coloring his words. "I remember him saying that. One. Two. Three. It's one of the few things I do remember. One. Two. Three... One. Two. Three." _

_Leo was surprised. This was the first time he had ever heard Don start a conversation about that month of his life. The 'he' Don had referred to was Bishop._

"_I knew when Galileo and Catherine hatched so close together." Don continued in the same distant tone. "I just didn't know which one."_

"_Why didn't you say anything?" Leo asked sadly._

_Don shrugged, but made no other attempt at response. _

"_You know you can tell us anything, don't you, Donnie? Anything at all."_

"_Yes. I know. I guess I just- I don't know, Leo. At first I wasn't sure, or maybe didn't think much of it. I couldn't say anything then. After a while, I didn't want to believe it, and saying it would make it real somehow."_

_Leo nodded and hugged his brother. Despite the topic of conversation, he smiled inwardly as he noted that Don had actually gained a little weight over the past few weeks. It wasn't much, and Donnie still had a long way to go, but it was just enough for Leo to notice. "I don't know what to tell you, Don."_

"_I know there are four of them and that is more than any of us ever expected to see in our lives..."_

"_That's true." Leo agreed._

"_But, two of them never even had a chance."_

"_One, Donnie." Leo corrected confidently. "One."_

"_Huh?"_

"_Look." Leo indicated the slightly larger of the two remaining eggs. It was wiggling. Normally he_ _would have_ _jumped up and gone to find Mike, Raph and Master Splinter, but Leo was pretty sure that he was needed here. He wrapped his arms around his brother's thin frame and let Donatello cry. And Donatello did cry; he cried for what he'd lost, what he'd gained, what had been, what could be, what would be, and what would never be.

* * *

_

_The other babies were down for a nap so only the adults were present when the last hatchling cleared it's egg. The little turtle who had been inside managed to do so in such a way that it was stuck on it's back. Not wanting to see that last egg anymore, Don backed away. The action surprised Mikey and Raph, but Leo understood and Splinter seemed to know as well. _

"_Little girl." Leo commented as he rescued the child from her predicament and handed her to her father. _

_Don, very carefully and almost disbelievingly, took the little girl from Leo. When prompted for yet another name, he looked to Master Splinter. _

"_No, Donatello." Splinter said quietly. "You name the last one." After the brief moment of shock Mike and Raph experienced at those words they looked down at the floor. _

_The tiny little girl in Don's arms blinked and cocked her head slightly to the side as if trying to figure out what to make of her new situation. _

"_That one's definitely Donnie's daughter. Barely out of her egg and she's already mastered 'thoughtful mode'." Mike observed. Under different circumstances it would have had the group in hysterics. As it was, all he got was a couple of half-smiles. It might not have gotten that if Don hadn't dropped into 'thoughtful mode' and unknowingly matched the baby's expression. _

"_What about Isabella?" Don finally asked, not having heard the joke. _

_Mikey shook his head and tried to cover quiet laughter. A quick glance to the side revealed that Leo and Raph were now doing the same. _

"_What?" Don asked, having totally missed out on what they found so funny, even Master Splinter was smiling. _

"_Isabella is a beautiful name." Splinter replied rather than answering Don's question.

* * *

_

"Is Bella still like Daddy." Catherine inquired. "I mean other than her bandanna, which is kinda like Daddy's?"

Michelangelo laughed. "She most certainly is still like your Dad. Though, I think she's been spending too much time around Galileo lately."

"Gale's like YOU!" Kat accused. "'cept he's skinny! And kinda mean sometimes."

Not able to argue the points, Mikey had to laugh though he did fix the child with a mock glare. "Yeah he is. He does a wonderful job of driving people crazy, doesn't he? We could be in a world of trouble if he talks Bella into the kind of things I tried to talk your daddy into." Mike ruffled the girl's bandanna again. "Well Kitty Kat, that's the end of the story. I told you it had a happy ending."

Catherine still looked concerned. "Uncle Mikey?" She asked sadly. "Was I really supposed to have another brother or sister?"

Mike sighed. This wasn't a conversation he wanted to have. He had already told her too much as it was, but there was no going back now. "Well, that's hard to answer. Yes, there was a sixth egg, but if it had been meant to hatch, it would have. So I guess I would have to say no. You were not meant to have another sibling. Sometimes we're not meant to understand why things happen, we just have to accept them as they are without questioning them. Does that make sense?"

"Like we have to do what Uncle Leo tells us to when we're in the dojo?"

"Something like that, yeah." Mike agreed. "What's important is that you are with us, and your sister and brothers are with us. We're a family Kat, we always will be, and everyone here loves you no matter what, even your dad... especially your dad. Now, why don't you go play?"

"Ok, Uncle Mikey." Catherine hopped off Mike's lap and ran to the main room where her siblings were playing quietly.

Isabella was pushing a dump truck filled with things that had probably been swiped from their daddy's room and being driven by a Barbie wearing a long flowing gown. She pushed it across the room to Tiziano where she emptied the back. Tiz refilled it with blocks and Bella pushed it to the other side of the room. Machiavelli and Galileo had a couple of action figures and were acting out one of the comic books Uncle Mikey had read to them. Machi's character was missing an arm and Gale's was short a leg, but, they didn't seem to care.

Bella emptied the truck again and Tiz joined her by the stack of blocks. Kat decided that the blocks looked like more fun and sat down with Tiz and Bella. It wasn't long before Catherine's attention drifted back to the story Uncle Mikey had told her.


	7. More than a Story

**A/N and Disclaimer: **Well, I did promise a chapter a day on this one until I leave. That means tonight and tomorrow night. So, here is the second to last chapter! Enjoy! I have never owned the Turtles, and the chances of me ever owning them is slim and none. I do this solely for a little fun, I man no harm and I make no money from this. Please don't sue... ok? please?

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**Chapter 7 – More than a Story.**

Catherine looked at the stairs. She knew that what she really wanted to do right now would probably get her in trouble, but she really felt like she needed to do it. Taking care not to destroy the structure Bella and Tiz had created, she stood and headed to the staircase.

"Where you going, Kat?" Tiziano asked looking up at her from his spot on the floor next to Bella and the blocks.

"I have to talk to Daddy." Catherine replied flatly.

"He's not up yet. We're not supposed to bother him after training until he gets up!"

That was true, but Kat didn't care at the moment. "I know. I'm going anyway."

Tiziano jumped up and knocked over a section of the block structure in the process, causing Bella to cry out in dismay.

"You can't go up there, Kat!" Tiz shouted.

"Shut up, Tiz." Catherine pushed him aside and he fell on his back. Leaving her dumbstruck brother on the floor, she hurried up to the second level.

"UNCLE LEO!" Tiziano cried, still stuck on his back.

Catherine moved as fast as she could. Once Uncle Leo was called, she knew she didn't have much time. She raced to her dad's room and slammed the door shut behind her.

"Catherine, what are you doing here?"

She looked up, expecting that her daddy would be facing her, but he wasn't. He was lying on the bed with back was to her.

"I..." Now that she had gotten this far, Kat didn't know what to say.

Don rolled over and looked at the daughter who had just interrupted his nap. Sometimes he meditated during this time, and sometimes he slept; today was a sleep day. He ignored the all too familiar spasm that shot across his chest at the movement too soon after the particularly strenuous training session that morning. Two rough mornings in a row had really taken a toll on him, but he'd deal like he always did. The look on the little girl's face startled him. "Hey Kat, is something wrong?" He asked gently as he sat up.

"Is- is Bishop real?" Catherine asked quietly. "Did he really..." She trailed off and stuck her thumb in her mouth.

Unable to believe what he had just heard, it took Don a moment to respond. "Where did you hear about Bishop?" He gestured for her to come over to him.

Kat walked over and when she reached the bed she removed her thumb from her mouth just long enough to speak. "Uncle Mikey told me a story. Is it true?"

"Sounds like we need to have a little chat with Uncle Mikey about aspects of Daddy's life that little ears don't need to hear just yet." Don stated, fighting to keep his voice light. Mike might have been ready to have that conversation, but Don sure wasn't. However, here he was. "Yes, Bishop is real." He admitted with a sigh as he carefully picked the little girl up and put her on his knee. Even with the care he took, he had to force away the pain as his back screamed in protest, and he cursed Bishop's little surgeries again. It wasn't the first time, and he was sure it wouldn't be the last.

"He broke you and that's why you don't play with us like Uncle Mikey and Uncle Raph?"

What she meant by 'broke' and what Don would mean by the same word were very different things. As close as he had come, Donatello hadn't broken under Bishop's tortures, at least not beyond repair. But how do you explain the difference to a five year old?

"Bishop hurt me very badly." Don admitted. "And what he did-" The door opened for a second time that morning and Leonardo interrupted their conversation.

"Donnie?"

"I've got it, Leo."

"But-"

"I said, I've got it. It's ok." When Leo still didn't leave Don tried again. "This is one I have to cover." He added.

Leo finally nodded and ducked out of the room.

"Keep going, Daddy." Kat begged.

Don took a moment to remember what he'd been saying. "Bishop hurt me in ways that cannot be fixed. So, yes. What Bishop did is why I don't play with you like Mike and Raph do."

"Did you really not want us?" Catherine asked in a small voice.

"How much did Mikey tell you?" Michelangelo was going to regret this, Donatello would see to that.

Catherine shrugged. She didn't know what Uncle Mikey told, and what he didn't. "He told me a lot." She admitted.

"He must have." Don agreed in a lighter tone. He sighed before continuing. "There was a time when I could not see the miracle that the five of you are." He admitted, carefully side-stepping the question. "You and your siblings are the one good thing that came of Bishop's... tinkering."

Catherine giggled, but quickly grew serious again. "You didn't answer my question, Daddy."

"Nothing slips by you, does it?" Don said with a shake of his head. He still hoped he could get around the question, but he had a feeling that it wasn't going to happen.

"Uncle Leo says that's how he knows I'm your daughter!"

Don had to laugh at that one. "More gets by me than Uncle Leo knows about." He told the little girl with a wink and a hug. "But let's keep that our little secret, ok?"

She laughed again, but still didn't have an answer to her question. "You still haven't told me, Daddy. Did you really not want us?"

Don sighed as he realized that there was no getting around this one, and he wasn't about to lie to her. "When you guys were still in your eggs, no, I didn't want you."

Catherine was about to cry. Sure, she'd heard it from Uncle Mikey, but coming from Daddy it was real.

"Hey, come on. Don't cry, Kat." Don begged as he hugged the little girl. "When Leo and Raph rescued us from Bishop I wasn't myself. If I had been, I definitely would have wanted you." Unsure of whether or not she could really understand what he had said, he continued. "I promise you this: I have loved you since the day you hatched."

"You don't hate us now?" She asked through her tears.

"What? Catherine, no! Of course I don't hate you. I love you and your brothers and sister more than anything else in the world." Don was trying desperately to figure out where he had gone so wrong that his own daughter thought he hated her. He attempted to force back the tears in his own eyes. "What made you think I hated you?"

A small shrug was the only response from the little turtle.

Don remembered a comment she had made earlier. "Is it because I don't play with you the way your uncles do?" He asked carefully.

Again she shrugged.

Part of Don hoped that was the whole reason, but another part could tell that there was something else. Something that he had no clue about. Not knowing what else to do he just held his daughter.

"Daddy? Are you ok?" Kat asked suddenly, startling Don out of his thoughts. She was worried.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Why...?" Don realized then what the problem was. Usually, he managed to hide it from his children, which was a big part of why they weren't allowed to bother him after morning training. He concentrated on forcing the tremors to stop.

"Daddy, why are you shaking?" The little girl started crying again.

"Oh, Kat, please don't cry." He finally managed to regain complete control of his muscles and tried to comfort the girl "Remember what I said about not being able to fix what Bishop did? The tremors are part of that. They're something that I live with. See, they stopped."

"Are you going to die?" The child asked in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. Master Splinter talked about death a lot. Just as with the original four turtles, Donatello's kids were introduced to death at a very early age. Considering that the adults continued topside training runs and patrols, the youngsters probably had an even stronger understanding of it than their father and uncles had at their age. They had certainly seen more injuries, a few of which had been severe.

"Everybody dies, Catherine." Ok, not the most comforting of statements. "But hopefully that won't happen for a long time."

"Promise?"

Don couldn't promise what she asked. Sure, he didn't go topside as often as his brothers did, but he didn't exactly lead a safe and secure lifestyle either, and even if he did that was no guarantee. What Donatello did promise her was what he could. "I promise that I will always be with you in one way or another."

Catherine wiped away the last of her tears and smiled.

"Come on." Holding the girl in his left arm, Don stood. "Let's go see what your brothers and sister are doing."


	8. Epilogue: Playtime

**A/N:** This more gives a little time to the other kids than anything else, and could very nearly stand alone as a one-shot, but I like it as a tag on the end of this story.

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**Chapter 8/Epilogue - Playtime**

As Don came down the stairs, still carrying Catherine in his left arm, the voice of his oldest child, Galileo, could be heard. Donnie was still fuming at Michelangelo, but if Catherine thought he hated her because he didn't play with her as often as her uncles did then he wanted to start making some changes along those lines. The conversation he heard as he came down from the second level told him that Mikey was going to have to wait.

"Bella, do you still have the dump... truck?" Gale trailed off as he looked at his sister. "Aw man, she did it again!"

"Bella!" Machiavelli complained.

"What?" Isabella asked, completely befuddled as to what she had done wrong.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs and seeing what Gale and Machi had been so upset about, Don couldn't help but laugh. Bella had very carefully and methodically dismantled the dump truck. The axles had been removed and stripped of their wheels. All six pieces currently sat to her left. The bright yellow bed had been pushed to her right, the cab lay on the floor in front of her and she held the chassis in her hands.

"Daddy!" The little girl on the floor called out excitedly. "Look!"

"She took the truck apart!" Machiavelli whined to his father, who could only stand there and laugh. "She takes EVERYTHING apart!" He ran over and grabbed his daddy's leg with his chubby arm as he pointed out the pieces that had once been a toy dump truck.

"Kid," Raphael said as he entered the room, "your dad's not the one to complain to about someone taking stuff apart."

"He's right." Don agreed, looking down at the child who still had a hold of his leg. "I am the world's biggest advocate of taking things apart... As long as you put them back together." He looked pointedly at Bella.

"I will!" The little turtle promised. "But it needs something."

Raph cocked an eyeridge, remembering all the times he'd heard someone else saying the exact same thing when he was a kid. "That one is definitely your daughter, Donnie." He said as he shook his head.

Don laughed again and turned to his children, dropping one hand to the top of Machi's head. "Tell you what," He bargained. "Since Bella did such a wonderful job of taking the truck apart and rendering it, temporarily, unusable let's go see what's in Daddy's workspace."

The three turtles who had remained on the ground jumped up and Catherine, who was still in her daddy's arms, clapped. He put her on the floor and the five young turtles raced to Don's little work area.

"What'd you make this time?" Raph asked. He didn't like the grin his brother gave him in response.

"I'd watch where you step for the next few weeks." Don suggested before jogging after his kids.

Out of curiosity, Raphael followed. He watched as Don pulled a box off the top shelf and handed out color coordinated remote controls: Galileo's golden yellow, Catherine's maroon, Tiziano's dusty blue, Machiavelli's deep salmon and Isabella's lilac. "Don, you didn't." Raph objected, quickly realizing what those remotes were for.

"We had one when we were six." Don stated, well aware that the what's-in-the-box suspense was just killing four of the five little turtles, and he was making the most of every moment he could get from them.

"Yes. One." Raphael agreed. "You made it."

"So what's the problem?" Don reached into the box, but came back out empty handed when Raph prepared to speak again. He chuckled at the excited impatience that surrounded him. Galileo was even jumping slightly as though trying to make his father hurry up and get to whatever else was in that box!

"Shouldn't Bella be the one to make these for them? And I hate to point out that they're not six yet." Raph objected.

"Who said she didn't?" Don replied with a wink at his youngest. "Her design, she made two. I just finished the set."

Isabella clapped and giggled, she had known what was in the box since her daddy had handed out the remotes.

Raphael sighed and watched as Don finally handed out the RC cars that had been waiting in the box. Each one was painted to match the remotes that operated on the same frequency. As soon as all five cars were out of the box the little turtles ran out to the main room.

"I'll race ya, Tiz!" Catherine challenged.

Never one to back down from a dare, especially not one from Catherine, Tiz accepted. "You're on!"

"Remind you of anyone?" Donnie asked his brother, having witnessed similar scenes involving two other turtles all his life.

Raph fixed his brother with a glare.

In no time, five cars were lined up on one side of the room. Tiz counted to three and all five vehicles leapt forward in a race for the opposite door.

"You know you want in on a little of that action." Don commented as Raph nostalgically watched the race in the next room. "Catch."

Raphael turned around just in time to catch the red remote and car that flew his direction. "You've gotta be kidding me." He laughed.

"Someone's gotta show them how it's done." Don grinned as he pulled his own dark purple car and remote from the box. "But sorry, bro. It's not going to be you."

"That sounds like a challenge."

"You bet your shell it is." Don affirmed with a grin.

Raphael went about setting up a complex obstacle course in the main room while Don watched and the kids continued racing their cars around the room. When Raph seemed to be getting to a point where he was satisfied with his handiwork Don gave an exaggerated yawn, earning a glare from his brother.

"Well, we gonna do this or what?" Raph demanded.

"I'm ready when you are, Pokey." Don retorted. He flipped the autostart switch on his remote and eased his car up to the starting line. Raph followed suit. "Who wants to start the race?" Don asked the kids who had stopped playing to see what their dad and uncle were doing.

"I do!" Catherine cried out. "On your mark! Get set! GO!" She shouted.

Both cars cleared Raph's first jump and were bumper to bumper coming out of the first obstacle. They continued side by side through the tunnel, across the sofa and around the high-backed chair. Coming out of the last corner, Raph's car went a little wide and Don's purple car zipped out in front, crossing the finish line a full length ahead of it's red opponent. The kids cheered and Don stood and took a bow.

"I did that on purpose, you know." Raphael grouched.

"You wish. Raph, your remote control skills never had anything on mine." Don reminded his brother with yet another grin.

Raphael widened the course to accommodate more cars and soon seven small, colorful vehicles stood side by side at the starting line. It was Machi's turn to start the race.

"On your mark... Get set... GO!"


End file.
